Sufficiency economy, the King’s philosophy: an application of Buddhist economics to develop Thai local pharmaceutical industries for sustainable well-being

Suntharee Chaisumritchoke

doi:10.1556/socec.29.2007.2.7

Society and Economy

Volume/Issue:: Volume 29: Issue 2

Sufficiency economy, the King’s philosophy: an application of Buddhist economics to develop Thai local pharmaceutical industries for sustainable well-being

Author:

Suntharee Chaisumritchoke

Suntharee Chaisumritchoke Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Bangkok Thailand

Search for other papers by Suntharee Chaisumritchoke in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

View More View Less

Pages:: 235–252

Online Publication Date:: 06 May 2008

Publication Date:: 01 Aug 2007

Article Category:: Research Article

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1556/socec.29.2007.2.7

Keywords:: Thailand; sufficiency economy; Buddhist economics; pharmaceutical industries; well-being

Restricted access

This article is developed from a policy research carried out to study the impacts on local pharmaceutical industries in case that the Thai government decides to accept the free trade agreement (FTA) on pharmaceutical products proposed by the US government. Despite that the US-Thai FTA is unfair, the Thai government is likely to accept the agreement due to international political pressures and a globalized discourse claiming free trades. Therefore the research recommended applying “Sufficiency Economy”, the King’s Philosophy as a survival strategy for both local industries and Thai people. Sufficiency Economy, as a part of Buddhist Economics, comprises of three principles and two fundamental conditions. The principles are moderation, rationality and self-immunity to changes , while the two conditions include wisdom or abilities to understand things properly and morality or a moral commitment not to put burden on others. The article proposed that there are three levels of all kinds of development according to the application of the principle of moderation. If applied at the first level, it means that the local industries are supposed to build their own capabilities and put emphasis on internal potentials or resources rather than external ones. The second level concerns with the other companies’ survival. If applied, the local companies are supposed to support, not compete against each other. Then, it would lead to network building and increasing strength of local industry groups. However, the two levels may be perceived as concerning only on business benefits. The third level concerning with survival of all involved is therefore the most required approach, where the local companies would run business with a truthful devotion for real health needs of Thai people. That is, the third level is for the well-being of all people. However, this level is less likely to be implemented; most local industries still lack right understanding on sufferings of patients, and its relationship with their survival. As “suffering” was the central strategy proposed by the Buddha, the article proposes that the local industries should learn from patients’ sufferings. Sufferings from sickness are common burdens of life, it is morally wrong to increase any burdens to anyone, even ourselves. In case that the multinational pharmaceutical companies earn excess profits and put more burdens on poor patients, the local companies would contribute to minimise these sufferings. The approach concerning patients’ sufferings would help local companies gain more supports from Thai patients and it may call for more understanding from other people over the world. Sooner or later it may change the world a better place for everyone to live happily and healthy.

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share Link

Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://akjournals.com/abstract/journals/204/29/2/article-p235.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

Society and Economy

Print ISSN:: 1588-9726

Online ISSN:: 1588-970X

Submit Your Manuscript

The author instructions are available in PDF.
Please, download the file from HERE

The Open Access statement together with the description of the Copyright and License Policy are available in PDF.
Please, download the file from HERE

Editor-in-chief: Balázs SZENT-IVÁNYI

Co-Editors:

Péter MARTON (Corvinus University, Budapest)
István KÓNYA (Corvinus University, Budapest)
László SAJTOS (The University of Auckland)
Gábor VIRÁG (University of Toronto)

Associate Editors:

Tamás BOKOR (Corvinus University, Budapest)
Sándor BOZÓKI (Corvinus University Budapest)
Bronwyn HOWELL (Victoria University of Wellington)
Hintea CALIN (Babeş-Bolyai University)
Christian EWERHART (University of Zürich)
Clemens PUPPE (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)
Zsolt DARVAS (Bruegel)
Szabina FODOR (Corvinus University Budapest)
Sándor GALLAI (Corvinus University Budapest)
László GULÁCSI (Óbuda University)
Dóra GYŐRFFY (Corvinus University Budapest)
György HAJNAL (Corvinus University Budapest)
Krisztina KOLOS (Corvinus University Budapest)
Alexandra KÖVES (Corvinus University Budapest)
Lacina LUBOR (Mendel University in Brno)
Péter MEDVEGYEV (Corvinus University Budapest)
Miroslava RAJČÁNIOVÁ (Slovak University of Agriculture)
Ariel MITEV (Corvinus University Budapest)
Éva PERPÉK (Corvinus University Budapest)
Petrus H. POTGIETER (University of South Africa)
Sergei IZMALKOV (MIT Economics)
Anita SZŰCS (Corvinus University Budapest)
László TRAUTMANN (Corvinus University Budapest)
Trenton G. SMITH (University of Otago)
György WALTER (Corvinus University Budapest)
Zoltán CSEDŐ (Corvinus University Budapest)
Zoltán LŐRINCZI (Ministry of Human Capacities)

Society and Economy
Institute: Corvinus University of Budapest
Address: Fővám tér 8. H-1093 Budapest, Hungary
Phone: (36 1) 482 5406
E-mail: balazs.szentivanyi@uni-corvinus.hu

Indexing and Abstracting Services:

CABELLS Journalytics
DOAJ
International Bibliographies IBZ and IBR
International Political Science Abstracts
JSTOR
SCOPUS
RePEc
Referativnyi Zhurnal

2023
Scopus
CiteScore	1.5
CiteScore rank	Q2 (Sociology and Political Science)
SNIP	0.496
Scimago
SJR index	0.243
SJR Q rank	Q3

Society and Economy
Publication Model	Gold Open Access
Submission Fee	none
Article Processing Charge	900 EUR/article with enough waivers
Regional discounts on country of the funding agency	World Bank Lower-middle-income economies: 50% World Bank Low-income economies: 100%
Further Discounts	Sufficient number of full waiver available. Editorial Board / Advisory Board members: 50% Corresponding authors, affiliated to an EISZ member institution subscribing to the journal package of Akadémiai Kiadó: 100%
Subscription Information	Gold Open Access

Society and Economy
Language	English
Size	B5
Year of Foundation	1972
Volumes per Year	1
Issues per Year	4
Founder	Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem
Founder's Address	H-1093 Budapest, Hungary Fővám tér 8.
Publisher	Akadémiai Kiadó
Publisher's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Responsible Publisher	Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN	1588-9726 (Print)
ISSN	1588-970X (Online)